The thing with endings is that they create a multitude of feelings.

And every last one of those feelings are valid.

As you sit back and watch the hurricane of tweets, Facebook messages, and message board posts unfold, you can see that the reactions are all over the place. Some folks are excited at the prospect of new Star Wars novels that are a greater part of the story than ever before. Others are angry that the stories they’ve held near and dear for so long are no longer as closely tied to that tapestry anymore. There’s happiness, there’s sadness. All of this happens when something comes to an end.

It’s easy to look at those who are upset and sad about the end of the Expanded Universe as we know it and be confused over their feelings and reactions. Why would you be upset when there’s so much more new Star Wars coming?  For most of those people, they are happy about new Star Wars content. Simultaneously, today was the conclusion of a long, ongoing story. Just like the finale of a beloved film or television show can create sadness, so too can the end of an era in Star Wars publishing.

Endings can be a sad thing. For some, the sting will linger for a while. The Expanded Universe was their Star Wars. They were the stories and characters that resonated with them most. Adventures seared into their memories. While those adventures still sit in books on bookshelves to be recalled and to look back upon, there’s a hint of melancholy that those tales won’t be added to and grown again. The written saga that many grew up with and spent so many years immersed in has drawn to a close.

But under that sadness is growing excitement. Excitement that this new era brings new and familiar scribes to pen new stories about characters that have long deserved their own books. These scribes have a blank canvas and are armed with the themes and lessons learned from the Expanded Universe of old. They have the ability to even lift elements from that old EU and place it into the new literature. This new era promises a unified vision for storytelling across all mediums that before fans could have only dreamed of.

As time marches on towards that new era, that excitement grows. The sting of an ending gives way to the hope for future greatness. For new adventures with new faces. Star Wars, that universe we love so much, has a new lease on life and a host of new possibilities. No longer are these novels limited to the niche sphere it once occupied. More than ever, this literature will be able to craft and shape the franchise.

These fans know that they should be excited for new Star Wars. Deep down, many of them are. But you don’t have to tell them that they shouldn’t be sad. They have the right to feel that way, just give them time. Slowly but surely, that melancholy they feel will give way and they begin looking forward once more to a new tome chronicling the stories of that Galaxy Far, Far Away.